Transformational Leadership, Occupational Stress, and Personality Traits as Predictors of Organizational Culture among Philippine National Police Personnel: Implications for Educational Administration in Criminal Justice Education

Abstract

This study investigated organizational culture formation among Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel in Zamboanga City, focusing on the interplay of occupational stress, transformational leadership, and personality traits, and its implications for Educational Administration in Criminal Justice Education. Grounded in McCreary and Thompson's (2006) occupational stress model, Bass and Avolio's (2000) transformational leadership theory, Goldberg's (1993) Big Five personality framework, and Cochran and Bromley's (2003) police culture theory, the research developed a structural model that can inform educational administration practices in criminology programs and police training institutions. Employing a quantitative descriptive-correlational design with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), 400 PNP personnel were selected through stratified random sampling. Validated instruments were utilized: Police Stress Questionnaire, Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-5X), Big Five Inventory, and Police Occupational Culture Scale. Mean, standard deviation, Pearson correlation, multiple regression, and SEM were employed. Results revealed high levels of occupational stress (M=3.51, SD=0.55), high transformational leadership (M=3.93, SD=0.53), moderate personality traits (M=3.33, SD=0.41), and high organizational culture (M=3.68, SD=0.42), characterized by strong solidarity and service orientation with moderate cynicism. Significant positive relationships were established: personality traits (r=.68, p<.001), transformational leadership (r=.39, p<.001), and occupational stress (r=.31, p<.001) with organizational culture. Regression analysis confirmed all three as significant predictors, with personality as the strongest (β=.600, p<.001), followed by transformational leadership (β=.386, p<.001) and occupational stress (β=.219, p=.001). Five structural models were tested; Model 5 emerged as the best-fit model with excellent fit indices: CMIN/DF=1.157, p=.199, GFI=.976, CFI=.995, NFI=.968, TLI=.994, RMSEA=.020, P-close=.998. In Model 5, transformational leadership directly influenced occupational stress (β=.468, p<.001) and personality (β=.697, p<.001); occupational stress influenced personality (β=.269, p<.001); and personality directly influenced organizational culture (β=.774, p<.001). Occupational stress had no direct effect on culture but an indirect effect through personality. The study concludes that organizational culture in law enforcement is educable and can be intentionally transformed through educational administration via leadership development, stress resilience education, and character formation integrated into the criminal justice education curriculum.